The invention relates to the provision of stockings, especially women's knee-high stockings and men's nylon stockings and the like, that are single thickness throughout the entire length thereof yet do not roll at the top. It is conventional when forming single thickness stockings to provide a double thickness area or welt at the top of the stockings (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,407, for example). This provides complications during manufacture over an arrangement wherein the stocking can be made single thickness throughout the entire length thereof. According to the present invention, a truly single thickness stocking can be provided that still does not roll during normal use thereof, and is relatively inexpensive to construct.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, a knee-high stocking is provided having a top section -- about 7-11 courses -- formed of jersey stitched pure elastic yarn. The stocking is knit on a conventional circular knitting machine having 2x needles, and at least the first 3 of the courses of the top section have only x wales, except the second course which has 2x wales. During the knitting of the second course all the 2x needles are brought into play, and the loops received by the alternate needles of the 2x needles are held during knitting of the subsequent courses having only x wales. The elastic yarn held thereby is placed under tension since no yarn is being fed while the loops are being held, and when the stocking is removed from the knitting machine there is a waleswise contraction thereof. A plurality of courses of jersey stitched elastic yarn having 2x wales can be knit after the courses having x wales, before knitting of the ribbed section of the stocking is initiated.
According to first and second embodiments of the present invention, the mock ribbed section of the stocking is knit by providing alternate courses (9th, 11th, etc. where 8 courses are provided for the top section) of floating (i.e., floating three out of four needles) elastic yarn and inelastic yarn, jersey stitched, and intervening courses (10th, 12th, etc.) of only inelastic yarn. The courses of only inelastic yarn may be tuck stitched if desired to further enhance the nonrolling properties of the stocking. Two x wales are provided in the mock ribbed section. After the relatively wide ribbed section is knit, the body portion of the stocking is knit of relatively inelastic yarn. Suitable yarns for producing knee-high stockings according to the present invention are spandex as the elastic yarn, Superloft as the inelastic yarn in the ribbed section (which may be of contrasting color and feel to the body portion), and relatively low-denier nylon in the body portion.
Also, according to the one embodiment of the present invention, a casual or knee-high stocking may be produced having a mock ribbed section formed like the mock ribbed section of the stocking described above and having a top section (to prevent rolling of the stocking) of about 4 specially formed courses. The first (top most) course of the top section comprises x wales of both elastic yarn and inelastic yarn jersey stitched, the second course comprises 2x wales of only inelastic yarn jersey stitched, the third course both elastic and inelastic yarn jersey stitched, and the fourth course only inelastic yarn tuck stitched. Suitable yarns for casual stockings that are so formed would be spandex for the elastic yarn, and relatively high denier nylon for the inelastic yarn.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved knee-high or casual single thickness stocking that is truly single thickness over the entire length thereof, yet does not roll at the top during normal usage. This and other objects of the present invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.